From Rhode Island to Maine

I'm pretty sure

it was 1983

when the Laplumes packed up

and moved to Maine.

Like my mother's side,

we lived in Rhode Island,

and although I don't remember

except the plastic Budweiser mug my dad used to have,

much about living in Rhode Island,

I remember packing the moving van

and heading off to Maine,

moving into the apartment in Lewiston,

the whole process

of the house of Dumas Street,

which was virtually empty

when we got there,

being built

from the ground up

(and the beer cans,

and the smell of beer

those cans left

in their wake).

They always say

you can't rely 

on the early memories

of the young,

but they exist.